Ahem.....

He's BAAAAAAAAACK! To be continued....

Bike MS Valero 2010 Alamo Ride to the River

Wow, what a great and logistically challenging weekend! After months of training on the bicycle the MS 150 is finally here and gone. 2 days, 160 miles ridden, over 7000 calories burned, gallons of water and Gatoraid consumed, hundreds of dollars for Multiple Sclerosis raised.... It all began Friday evening, driving to the Day 1 finish line in New Braunfels to park Jennifer's truck so we will have a way home upon arrival the next afternoon, then driving back to San Antonio to get our bikes and gear ready. Saturday morning we pack everything into Betty's truck and drive over to the Alamo-Dome for the start of the ride. The crowd was buzzing with anticipation and at 8:30am after the line-up was announced and the National Anthem was sung, we were off! Day 1 was a very good ride. The weather was absolutely beautiful. The pace was great and everyone was very friendly(of course because cyclists are among the nicest people in the world, they just want to have a good ride and then maybe drink a couple beers after.... must be all those released Endorphins or something). We stopped at about every third water-stop just to relax a minute, replenish our supplies and socialize, then it was back on the bikes and before you knew it we reached the rest-stop at mile 70 and had a decision to make.... finish up the day by going to the left were the finish line was a mere 2 miles away.... or go to the right and tack on a 30 mile loop to put us in this years Century-club for riding 100 miles in the first day. Obviously it wasn't much of a choice because we are weird-O's and like to punish ourselves and besides what's an extra 30 miles between friends? After 100 miles of Day 1 were finished and I had my Century patch in my pocket all I wanted was food and a tall cold beer.

Now we have to drive back to San Antonio, where the boys are spending the day with their Aunt Jessica, do some laundry and get some sleep because the alarm clock is going to start ringing at around 4:30 in the A.M. Sunday Wake up, pick up Betty and drive BACK to New Braunfels for the start of the Day 2 60 mile ride back to San Antonio. The first 30 miles or so were great. I felt really good but some where in that second hour my knee started to tighten up and my pace fell off quite a bit but luckily I have a great team to keep me going and we struggled for about another 20 miles together but when there was less than 10 miles to go i switched from this 'really hurts' mode to 'I don't care if this hurts I'm going to finish this ride' mode and we powered through. We even skipped the last rest stop just to get it done! Then BANG! We were done, we rode our bikes triumphantly into the Alamo-dome like a band of conquering heroes, received our MS150 pins and complimentary hamburger and potato salad lunch, changed clothes and drove Betty's truck BACK to New Braunfels to pick up Jennifer's truck and then drove BACK to San Antonio where it all started just two short days before. Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it. Next up, San Antonio Marathon....32 days and counting.

Almost time....

Wild West Hammer-Fest pictures. Well it's almost time for the proverbial rubber to hit the literal road. Only 11 days until the MS 150 Ride to the River. It is going to be a weird event. Somehow we are going to have to ride 75 miles to New Braunfels (which isn't even 75 miles away) on a Saturday morning, then find a way back to San Antonio that afternoon. Then we are going to have to get up extra early Sunday morning and drive BACK to New Braunfels to ride back to San Antonio.... seems pretty complicated but it's all for a good cause so that makes it OK.
47 days until the San Antonio Rock-n-Roll Marathon. Got some new running shoes Friday night and put them to work running another 15 miler on Saturday. Took off about 2 minutes from my first 15 mile time but I know, that means absolutely nothing. I am really going to have to buckle down and take this last month and a half of training more seriously than anything I've ever done before. 15 miles is awesome, and to date it is the longest distance I have ever run, but that being said, run 15 miles and you STILL have 11.2 miles to go, to finish a Marathon!
Chipmunks Motivational Corner: "Adrenaline goes a long way. After you finish 17 and feel good, it will only be nine more. Only nine miles to a life goal. If your race is in the morning think when you're eating lunch the day before, wow, this time tomorrow I'll have finished my Marathon."-- Jean Marie Contreras

54 Days....

Saturday was the Lavernia Wild West Hammer-fest Bike Ride. A nice little 65 mile jaunt through some old Texas towns like LaVernia of course, Stockdale and Sutherland Springs. This was a tough ride full of headwinds, Chip seal roads and rain but we stuck it out and finished in a relatively good time of less than 4 hours. Sunday was supposed to be long run day but with the impending rain storm, a lawn that was in much need of tending to and the fact that my legs felt like Jell-O I made the Executive Decision to skip it. Watched a very good Documentary called 'The Spirit of the Marathon' about 6 very different people training for the 2005 Chicago Marathon. It was inspiring but it also made me feel even more nervous about my own upcoming event. Am I doing enough to prepare? Am I doing too much?
54 days from now, I will put on my Cocked-n-Locked Endurance Sports jersey and line up with about 30,000 runners from around the world heading into the uncertain and for me, unknown lengths of 26.2 miles of roads to run. Now it's getting exciting...... Chipmunks Motivational Corner; "Running changed my life as it will change yours, just give it a chance. Once you get that blood moving, it's show time!" - Wilfredo Melendez, US Soldier

I must be butter, because I'm on a roll..........

Well well well, look who is writing two blog entries in the same week. I feel as prolific as Stephen King. OK, that's stretching it a bit but yes this is an abnormality. I have absolutely nothing to write about that will be of any interest, to anyone, but I really do need to get back in the habit of updating this daily. In case anyone reading this has recently been given/won/inherited/stolen/swindled or other-wise bam-boozled a large amount of money and was wondering what to buy me let me help you with my wish list; 2011 Harley Davidson Night Rod. That's it, that's all I want. You don't even have to go pick it up you can just give me 20k and I will be so kind as to do all of the leg work.

Chipmunks Motivational Corner: "In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a satisfaction in that." -Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon Co-Founder

59 days till the San Antonio Marathon. Yikes.

Yikes!

My sister Kristan was asking me if I still had a blog and so I looked to see when my the last entry was put in here and it is dated August 4Th...... I suck so bad at the 'making sure to keep my blog updated game'. So what have we missed? I don't even remember.... Keith's birthday BBQ, Kris' birthday shindig, Labor Day Whine Run in Dry Comal Creek Vineyards, Zoo Run, Poth Ride and I've finally broken the 15 mile run barrier. There is 61 days to go until the Rock-n-Roll Marathon and 25 days until the MS 150 Bike Ride and plenty of stuff in between to keep me busy so maybe I'll be a bit better about getting entries in here in a more timely matter.

I don't have much to write about and I don't have any cool pictures to put up, but, I felt that since it is a new month(August already?) I had better type something or I am likely to procrastinate and next thing you know it will be September and so on and next time you look up it will be 2011 and I'll be wondering why I don't have any blog entries. So update time I guess, 94 days till the San Antonio Marathon and 65 days till the MS 150 Ride to the River.